CHAPTER THIRTY #2
“I’ve seen how it ends for me, my lady. I am content with my choices,” he said simply.
He paused before adding, “But there’s something I won’t be capable of telling you by the time we meet.
Every time I come back, and I lose a little more of my mind, there will be one memory I never forget—the first time I saw you. ”
The first time he’d seen me? I thought of all the drawings Nym had done, and my mind’s eye filled with a memory of his bedroom wall. “Was it during the battle?” I asked.
Nym shook his head. “Quite the opposite, actually. It was during one of the quieter parts of your life. You were only sixteen years old. You didn’t seem to have many friends, and you didn’t say much, so I continued to watch you for a while.
One day, you walked past a human who had just dropped her book.
You stopped, and you bent down, and you picked it up for her.
She thanked you and you continued on your way.
Such a simple thing. Some might not even consider it consequential.
But I knew the world had been cruel to you.
You could’ve let it harden you. You could have ignored that woman, like most people would have. Yet you were kind to her.
“That was when I knew Lady Persephone’s fears were unfounded,” Nym concluded. He gave me a sweet, tender smile. “You were well worth the wait, Your Majesty.”
My chin wobbled, and I knew I was staring at him again. I didn’t care. I wanted to remember this moment, every detail of it. Nym had been part of my family. He knew the shape of my soul, the secret fears that hid inside it. And here he was, telling me he had no regrets.
Even after all this time, the loss of him hurt. Grief laced my voice as I whispered, “I love you, Nym.”
“Being loved by you is an honor, my lady. One that is entirely worth dying for,” he replied.
He took my hand, which had been resting on the table, and pressed a gentle kiss to the back of it.
Then Nym stood from his chair, the legs making a slight scraping sound on the pavement.
As he pushed it back in, the Time Walker’s gaze met mine again. “You’re wasting it, you know.”
“Wasting what?” I asked, my head tilted back to keep my eyes on him.
Nym slid a piece of paper toward me. “Time.”
With one last smile, he turned away from the table. He put his foot out as if he were taking a step, then sifted before his shoe even touched the ground. Another whisper of pain went through me as I realized it was the last time I’d ever see my friend.
Swallowing, I pulled the piece of paper closer and unfolded it.
I’d half-expected it to be a letter, but there was just an address written in the center.
It was on the East coast. I unlocked my phone and typed the address in.
I’d have to use a Door to get there. Luckily, there was one right in Tucson.
Well, no time like the present, I thought.
I packed up my things and pushed away from the table, then followed Nym into the bright unknown.
I arrived just as daylight was beginning to peek over the horizon.
For a few minutes, long after the engine had gone silent, I just sat there and looked up at the house. I’d never seen the front of it, since my visits had only been in dreams, but it suited him. Beautiful, reserved, the darkness broken by spots of light.
Hello shifted in her crate, which I’d strapped in beside me.
The sound pulled me out of my reverie. Taking a breath, I unbuckled and finally climbed out of the car.
I clutched the corner of the door in my hand, one foot in, one foot out.
Nothing stirred beyond the glass of those gently lit windows.
I glanced toward the garage doors, wondering how many cars were parked inside.
That was when something else occurred to me.
Something I should’ve thought of at some point during the trip here.
What if he wasn’t alone? What if he’d moved on?
I could hardly blame him if he had—I’d been the one to walk away on the day of his coronation.
Uncertainty gripped my heart, and I couldn’t bring myself to move.
I was still standing there when the front door opened.
The sight of him didn’t bring back a rush of memories.
Instead, it only brought one—our wedding ceremony.
When we were two strangers, standing in those twilight woods, making promises to each other that we’d both break.
It wasn’t so long ago, in the grand scheme of things, but every time I pictured those people we’d been …
I thought about how young they were. How guarded.
How hopeful. We hadn’t been looking for each other in a physical sense, but we’d been looking for each other nonetheless.
Then we’d screwed it up, over and over, because we were alive and life was a fucking mess.
Did that mean it was too late to fuck it up one more time?
I looked up at him, still remembering those vows. Reliving the part that I’d kept with me, tucked inside like a secret, taking it out on the nights I was alone. I will never tell you goodbye, because I will never leave you. I will do my best to give you a life of hellos, Fortuna Sworn.
When those final words echoed through my head, it was as if something clicked into place. For the first time in my life, I had the right words.
“Hello,” I said.
Collith smiled. The tilt to his lips was subtle as ever, but the light reached his eyes, spreading from the corners in small lines as he walked toward me. “Welcome home,” he replied.
A sensation darted through the edges of my heart.
It felt like something was being built, or like two things were being knit together.
For once, I didn’t hesitate. I stepped forward and wrapped my arms around Collith’s neck, burying my fingers in the soft curls against the back of his neck.
His achingly familiar scent washed over me, dark and rich and masculine.
I hadn’t realized just how much I’d missed it.
“It’s good to be back,” I murmured, just before Collith bent his head to claim my mouth.
There was nothing hesitant in the heat of his kiss, no hint of the year we’d been apart.
I thrilled in his taste. Being able to touch him again.
I could have an entire lifetime of touching him, and it wouldn’t be enough.
Without breaking away, Collith shifted and yanked me off my feet. I tipped my head, laughing, but I caught hold of his shoulders for balance and didn’t fight his hold. He began walking toward the front door of the house.
Halfway up the path, though, Collith paused. He met my gaze again, and suddenly there was a shadow of uncertainty in those hazel depths. “Laurie is inside. We … we were just starting to make breakfast,” he told me.
A breeze whistled between us. Dawn warmed my skin, yellow streams of light over the horizon as I gave Collith a slow, wide smile. “That sounds absolutely perfect.”
He gave me a look of such pure joy that I felt an answering, giddy flutter. Without another word, Collith carried me inside. A rush of warm air greeted us. It smelled like fresh coffee and melting butter. My mouth began to water just as a familiar voice called, “It’s about time, Firecracker!”
I grinned, and Collith kicked the door shut behind us.
THE END